Publisher of Informational Website for America’s Seniors says FDA endangers health, well-being

Sept. 22, 2010 - PRLog -- St. Louis, MO, September 22, 2010—The publisher of one of the leading informational websites for America’s seniors, caregivers and policy-makers says that  seizures of vital prescription medicines from Tier One countries endanger the health and well-being of untold numbers of  American citizens.

Daniel Hines, publisher of www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com says that the FDA is seizing the prescriptions ordered by Americans from licensed, registered pharmacies in Tier One Countries that meet or exceed the standards of those in the U.S. even though in making the seizures the agency notes that it is not accusing the patients who have ordered the medicines , which have been prescribed by their physician and are exactly the same medicine as sold in this country, of breaking the law.

The irony of not being accused of unlawful activity but denied access to the medicines, which are priced as much as 60 percent less that in the U.S., is compounded by the fact that even though such well-known medicines as Lipitor are among the seized medicines, the FDA says in its letter to the patients, the it is a “… new drug because it is not generally recognized as safe and effective by experts and requires a prescription. It is an unapproved drug because there is no FDA approval of a new drug application on file for the product.”

“This totally inaccurate description of a medicine such as Lipitor is indicative of the arbitrary nature of the seizures,” Hines says.  “It is difficult to believe that it was only two years ago that then-Presidential candidate Obama was promising support for personal importation of safe, affordable medicines from outside the U.S”

Hines says the relationship between groups largely funded by PhRMA, the trade association for the pharmaceutical manufacturers , and the FDA is especially troublesome since it is indicative of a strategy by PhRMA to use unfounded fears of safety of legitimate medicines to further guarantee that Americans are subjected to even greater predatory pricing. The relationship is documented at http://rxforamericanhealth.blogspot.com/2010/09/seizures-...

He called on the President to honor his campaign pledges and to instruct FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to explore ways to ensure that Americans—43 percent of whom are skipping their medications because of their costs, according to a Rasmussen poll—are not further burdened by being denied access to their vital medicines which they otherwise could not afford.

“It is tragic that the FDA, whose limited resources have led to a rash of failures ranging from eggs to peanuts, should become the tool of PhRMA, and that the agency follows a policy that can endanger the health and well-being of the very citizens it should be protecting,” Hines says.  “The success of personal importation in protecting health at tremendous savings to individuals is a validation of the ability of the American people to make health care decisions.”

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Leading informational website for America's Seniors, dealing with stories , features on aging issues for seniors, caregivers, boomers, policy-makers and advocates.